They call it Broncos Country, of course, but really it's the Country Broncos. The Texan Miller is neither a Texan nor a Cowboy but dresses like a Cowboy on "Walker, Texas Ranger," more Chuck Norris than Chuck Noll.

He's not the only one: Quarterback Peyton Manning has shown up on stage at country concerts, kicker Matt Prater has lucky boots and Wes Welker has blue eyes that make him look like Frank Sinatra but walking in his boots make him look more like Nancy Sinatra parading around.

Of course, as in any locker room, the Broncos have a range of musical and fashion taste, but this season it seems the Broncos are like Bob's Country Bunker from "The Blues Brothers," in which the sweet bartender explains they enjoy both kinds of music — country and Western. Denver is John Denver.

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Quarterbacks often make big purchases for their offensive linemen, to thank them for their thankless work. Quarterbacks have been known to buy their linemen fancy watches or take them to steak dinners, but what did Manning do for his good ol' boys this past offseason?

"We all got cowboy boots," said right guard Louis Vasquez. "Special handmade boots, and we had a chance to pick the skin, the lettering and the color. I went with ostrich black and had my initials and numbers on opposite sides."

Manning is part quarterback, part cooter. He's fancy pants, to be sure, raised in uptown New Orleans, where the closest thing to country is the horse on polo shirts. But he went to Tennessee, and now he's showing up on stage at Kenny Chesney concerts and dancing to "Rocky Top" and "Friends in Low Places," as though his Gatorade bottle were filled with Tennessee's finest.

As for Prater, after his famous boot, his boots became famous.

Last season, after setting an NFL record by kicking a 64-yard field goal, he left the locker room in lucky Lucchese leather, his prized right foot (and, for symmetry, his irrelevant left one, too) nestled inside size-10½ brown boots.

"Regular leather boots, real comfortable," Prater told me that day, sounding something like Brett Favre in a Wrangler commercial. "You get a nice pair of boots, there's nothing better. Now I'm going to have to wear those boots to every game."

Boulder is pretty good at producing rock bands, and by "rock," we mean the in-your-face, guitar-heavy, leather-clad variety — you know, the good kind. For a prime example, look no farther than BANDITS. Full Story